Non-Consensual Sexually Explicit Images and Videos (Offences) Bill [HL]

Baroness Morris of Bolton Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 13th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Morris of Bolton (Con)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Russell of Liverpool, with that powerful speech. It is also a privilege to support my noble friend Lady Owen of Alderley Edge as she powerfully introduces her much-needed Private Member’s Bill, which seeks to make it a criminal offence to create or solicit non-consensual sexually explicit images, including sexually explicit deepfakes. I hope I have got the terminology right; I say that because it is a world which is alien to the great majority of us, and yet it is a world that is flourishing, deeply corrosive and, much to my disbelief, easily accessible.

During the consideration of the Online Safety Bill, I spent many hours on the Woolsack, or at the Chair in Committee, listening to some of the most horrendous stories of online sexual manipulation, almost exclusively of women and children. My horror was compounded when I attended a briefing session on this Bill, organised by my noble friend, to listen to the amazing team of women who are helping her and advising on the Bill. I heard the brave and harrowing stories of the victims of deepfake sexual abuse, and I too pay tribute to them.

My noble friend Lady Newlove, the Victims’ Commissioner, who is very sorry she is unable to speak today but supports the Bill, published a report on online harms in 2022 and asked me to say that “the impact of deepfake on the victim is stark. As this abuse is online, they have no way of knowing how many people have seen these images.” Victims told her that they experienced problems with severe loss of confidence, which impacted on their ability to engage with the world around them. Some 68% of victims told her that they became worried about leaving the house because they often felt that people would have seen those images, and the abuse had made them distrustful of people.

That is sobering. I do not know what the Government’s reaction is going to be to my noble friend Lady Owen’s Bill, and there are conflicting opinions flying around. I fear, however, that the response, while sympathetic, will be that these issues will be covered by a Government Bill at some time in the future.

However, as we have heard so passionately articulated today, the one thing we do not have is the luxury of time. As each day passes, this vile industry grows, as does the toll on the well-being of the victims, along with the personal and societal harm of those watching these images, many of them impressionable young men. When speaking to the noble Baroness, Lady Bertin, who is heading up the Government’s review of pornography legislation, she made it clear, and was happy for me to make it clear to the House on her behalf, that she supports my noble friend’s Bill and urges the Government to back it and push it through as quickly as possible. She said that speed of action is essential, and her review will make many similar recommendations when it reports in January.

I entreat the Government to support my noble friend Lady Owen’s Bill, because one day delayed putting these provisions on the statute book is one day too many.